Literary Voices

Lia Villares’ writing is herself, her motley room full of incense and music, her diaries half-finished or half-begun, her incredible blogs all of them called “Hechizamiento Habanémico Hebdomanario.” She is one of the most important social activists of the Cuban blogosphere.

To mark the American debut of an anthology of contemporary Burmese poetry, Sampsonia Way reprints Khet Mar’s interview with editors James Byrne and poet Ko Ko Thett, in which they discuss the challenges of compiling the anthology, and Burma’s transition out of a culture of censorship.

Ebullient and ever-interested in collaging and layering, in this interview the poet, novelist and playwright Chris Abani talks about his writing and editing processes, where he gets his ideas, why he’s never experienced writer’s block, and his many cross-discipline obsessions.

Encinosa Fú is one of the best writers of science fiction and fantasy epic genres in Cuba. But he is also a storyteller who explores realism to its very violent limits. Author of more than 11 books, his work has been included in more than 20 anthologies.

Erick Mota is a kind of chronicler of our thousand and one post-Fidel fossil futures. Entertaining, funny, relying on pure action, from which emanates however a sad reflection on the present of Cuba. He is the author of three books of fiction.

In his writing, Fernández Larrea seeks to banish any local color of his sceneries and language, in a displacement that ultimately imitates the most common literary translation. Author of a novel, short stories and essays, he is also an editor at the University of Havana publishing house.

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About Sampsonia Way

Sampsonia Way is an online magazine sponsored by City of Asylum/Pittsburgh that seeks to protect and advocate for writers who may be endangered, to educate the public about threats to writers and literary expression, and to create a community in which endangered writers thrive and literary culture is a valued part of life.